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View Full Version : Please Help with Making my First Muntants and Masterminds character...



Conners
2008-07-26, 05:48 AM
As the title says, I'm trying to make my first M&M character, ever. I just got the book now, and I don't know the rules too well due to that.

Here's my character concept (I'm trying for a simple one):


Berserker
Fluff: The character is from a special race of very human-like warriors (not necessarily aliens--humans that evolved into better warriors, perhaps). Sometimes, when an act of great atrocity is committed by outsiders, a warrior of this race will be filled with unquenchable rage--they are known as Battle Spirits to the race, and Berserkers to outsiders.
In combat, the maddened warrior is overcome with pure anger, to the extent he has no care whatsoever for his own life, and the rage carries to the extent that allies can be seen as more enemies come to challenge the Berserker. Only someone very dear to the Berserker can bring him out of his maddened state.
Outside of combat, the warrior's wit and senses have been dulled tremendously. The reason for this loss of intellect isn't fully understood--but it is believed that it takes nearly all of the warrior's brain-and-will-power to suppress the rage.

Crunch: OK, so I need him to be enraged, I think I saw a "Rage" feat that'd be good for that. Other feats he'd use would be things like "All-Out Attack", "Power Attack", "Fearless" and "Diehard" to represent his rage-driven determination, as well as his complete disregard for his own life. Also to represent this, I'm planning to swap out alot of (or even all) of his Defence for Toughness/

Here's one of the snags I hit: I want him to wear very thick armour (made so that he can move around pretty well, still), and use a large sword. The problem is, I notice the toughness of a metal weapon is 8, and I planned on using these stats for him:

STR: 30 (18) DEX: 14 CON: 30 (16) INT: 6 (10) WIS: 8 (10) CHR: 12 (14)

Is there a way to increase the weapon toughness?

That's all I can really think about mentioning, besides the fact I want him to be potentially dangerous to his allies when too enraged (and especially his enemies), only calming when knocked out or pleaded to by someone he cares about.

That's all I've got for him so far. I'm having trouble with even simple things due to my newness to the system, and I certainly don't know it well enough to say, "Hmmm... This set-up will kill him easily!" and I have no clue as to what amount to spend of Saving Throws, Attack Bonus and Defence Bonus...

Please give me your advice on want to do...

JeminiZero
2008-07-26, 07:36 AM
At the very start it may help to state what Level you expect your char to be.



Also to represent this, I'm planning to swap out alot of (or even all) of his Defence for Toughness


Make sure you get Impervious on top of Toughness, it will help your Character survive many things.



Is there a way to increase the weapon toughness?


Talk to your DM, ask about the equipment cost of making a custom weapon out of one of the more exotic materials.

Failing which you can Buy a Device-Sword (3 pp per rank, easy to lose) and add strike + mighty to it. Look up the "Device" and "Strike" power in the book. Note that even with the strike damage bonus, you cannot exceed the damage cap for your level without some attack trade off.



That's all I can really think about mentioning, besides the fact I want him to be potentially dangerous to his allies when too enraged (and especially his enemies), only calming when knocked out or pleaded to by someone he cares about.


This is a bit trickier. Rage normally only has a 5 round limit (increasing by 5 more rounds if you put PP into extending it). So by default his rage will expire quickly without the pleading.

Rather than Rage, you might take it as a boost (see the "boost" power), add "total fade" extra (so that it remains at full power till deactivation), and few "slow fade" power feats to extend the duration. There is no definite mechanic for 'losing self control' in M&M that I am aware of. It probably has to be added as a custom "Side Effect" Flaw, with the power discount cost depending on your GM's discretion.



That's all I've got for him so far. I'm having trouble with even simple things due to my newness to the system, and I certainly don't know it well enough to say, "Hmmm... This set-up will kill him easily!"


Make sure your Toughness and Defence are both maxed out for your level (at their traded off levels). Have as much impervious as you can reasonably afford. If you can, also add tactical regeneration (i.e. regeneration that occus fast enough to get rid of damage you may sustain mid-combat).



and I have no clue as to what amount to spend of Saving Throws, Attack Bonus and Defence Bonus...


Try not to have your Will below your PL, unless you want to end up mind controlled by every and any mentalist. With your high Con you should also have a high Fort save.

DizzyD
2008-07-26, 08:09 AM
I really like your char concept(even though its basically the hulk) I really like the fluff part about the spirit that take control over him. I wish I could help but I to am just learning MM.

Conners
2008-07-26, 09:49 AM
Oops.... forgot the most basic thing: Power Level :smalleek:. Sorry about that. The Power Level I'm shooting for is 10--I'm not in any campaign but I figured that'd be a good level to practice making characters for.

Thanks for your help, JeminiZero! I'll try to work on the sheet in the morning, and show you what I have so far when I've made some progress.


@DizzyD: He isn't exactly possessed by a spirit, I haven't quite worked out the details for why the warrior race will sometimes "transform" into a Battle-Spirit. My main thoughts on it so far is that they are filled with righteous-fury from their God/Goddess/Essence (I've got quite a bit of backstory for this warrior race, if any of you are interested).

Talic
2008-07-27, 02:25 AM
Impervious is a good power.

Also, if you want a powerful sword, you can build a device with strike. If you want to represent a warrior of truly exceptional skill, give the character strike, with the power limitation: "Must be holding a sword."

Other things: If you want to be tough, don't neglect your saving throws. +10 fort, reflex, will, and +15 toughness. Yeah, it may be 45 points, but it will DRAMATICALLY increase your survivability. Also allows you to have a 10 Dex, Con, and Wis, and still have good saves. As Dex does not boost AC in this game, that's good. Con similarly does not boost life.

All in all, if you spend about 40% of your points on defense, and 60% on offense, you'll have a virtual tank that can take a lot, and still be offensive.

One thing to consider would be a blast attack, with the limitation: must throw a sword (or axe, or whatever). Thus, you can throw weapons to deadly effect.

geez3r
2008-07-28, 01:52 PM
I made a shell of a character for you, it's still quite under budget, but I'll let you fill in the rest of the blanks to your taste.

STR: 18/28* (+4/+9) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 16/26* (+3/+9) INT: 6/10* (-2/+0) WIS: 8/10* (-1/+0) CHA: 12/14* (+1/+2)
*Raging

Skills: None

Feats: Rage 6 (Max bonuses, 15 round duration), All-Out Attack, Power Attack, Diehard, Fearless

Powers:

Rage Container 5 Flaw: Limited: Usable only while raging
Enhanced Constitution 10
Impervious 3
Enhanced Intelligence 4
Enhanced Wisdom 2
Enhanced Charisma 2
Benefit (May use mental skills while raging)
Super-Strength 1
Speed 1
Drawback [-1] - May not distinguist friends from foes

Armor: Device - Hard to Lose 3
Protection 7 Extras: Impervious

Sword: Device - Easy to Lose 3 PF: Indestructable
Strike 4 PF: Mighty, Penetrating 9
AP: Blast 7 Extras: Targeted Area Burst Flaws: Touch Range

COMBAT: Attack +7, Defense +5 (+3 Flat-footed), Damage +4 (unarmed), =9 (unarmed raging), +8 (sword), +13 (sword Raging), +7 Blast

SAVES: Toughness: +3/+10 w/armor/+15 Raging, Fort +7 (+12 raging), Ref +10, Will +7 (+12 Will)

Abilities 14 + Feats 10 + Powers 42 + Combat 24 + Saves 19 = 109

After all of this you still have 41 points to spend, which is quite frankly disgusting. Right now, he depends on his armor quite heavily, but if you want to change that, just decrease the value of the protection and increase his Con, and possibly tweak his Fort save as well to adjust for PL limits. His trade-offs are -3 Atk/+3 DC, -5 Def/ +5 Toughness.

Conners
2008-07-30, 08:57 AM
I made a shell of a character for you, it's still quite under budget, but I'll let you fill in the rest of the blanks to your taste.

STR: 18/28* (+4/+9) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 16/26* (+3/+9) INT: 6/10* (-2/+0) WIS: 8/10* (-1/+0) CHA: 12/14* (+1/+2)
*Raging

Skills: None

Feats: Rage 6 (Max bonuses, 15 round duration), All-Out Attack, Power Attack, Diehard, Fearless

Powers:

Rage Container 5 Flaw: Limited: Usable only while raging
Enhanced Constitution 10
Impervious 3
Enhanced Intelligence 4
Enhanced Wisdom 2
Enhanced Charisma 2
Benefit (May use mental skills while raging)
Super-Strength 1
Speed 1
Drawback [-1] - May not distinguish friends from foes

Armor: Device - Hard to Lose 3
Protection 7 Extras: Impervious

Sword: Device - Easy to Lose 3 PF: Indestructable
Strike 4 PF: Mighty, Penetrating 9
AP: Blast 7 Extras: Targeted Area Burst Flaws: Touch Range

COMBAT: Attack +7, Defense +5 (+3 Flat-footed), Damage +4 (unarmed), =9 (unarmed raging), +8 (sword), +13 (sword Raging), +7 Blast

SAVES: Toughness: +3/+10 w/armor/+15 Raging, Fort +7 (+12 raging), Ref +10, Will +7 (+12 Will)

Abilities 14 + Feats 10 + Powers 42 + Combat 24 + Saves 19 = 109

After all of this you still have 41 points to spend, which is quite frankly disgusting. Right now, he depends on his armor quite heavily, but if you want to change that, just decrease the value of the protection and increase his Con, and possibly tweak his Fort save as well to adjust for PL limits. His trade-offs are -3 Atk/+3 DC, -5 Def/ +5 Toughness. Very sorry for not replying earlier, I've gotten sick and before I was trying to keep up with a lot of stuff.

I like what you've done with the concept, and may follow this to the letter :smallbiggrin:. A few questions from a newbie, though:
1) I notice you put the mental stats like this, "INT: 6/10* (-2/+0) WIS: 8/10* (-1/+0) CHA: 12/14* (+1/+2)" I'm guessing it's a simple error (since he has lost his mental power due to rage/keeping-back-the-rage), but I'm just pointing it out in case there's been a great mix-up of some kind which will ruin the character.
2) I intended the character to be incredibly strong even when not raging, but extra strong when raging--can this be done effectively?
3) I don't guess there's a way to have unlimited rage :smalltongue:?
4) What's the "Rage Container" power? I can't find it in the book.

Please reply soon :smallbiggrin:.

PnP Fan
2008-07-30, 10:51 AM
Because of your power level limit, having a STR score above 30 at PL 10 is of no value, even when you are raging. What you could do is take Boost: Super Strength (limit: only while raging). What that will do is raise your lifting/throwing capacity, as well as your grapple checks, when you are raging.

Conversely, you could take levels of super strength as your base lifting ability, and take boost: Enhanced STR (limit: only when raging) as your damage buff.

Also, you should be aware that the Rage feat is a leveled feat. So you can take it more than once, IIRC. I don't remember if the bonuses stack, or if they give you more rages/day, or exactly what.

You may also want to add some Frightful Presence or something similar into the mix. It'll give you a nice edge against a lot of other bricks (who stereotypcially have low Will saves.)

Pinnacle
2008-07-30, 11:31 AM
Because of your power level limit, having a STR score above 30 at PL 10 is of no value, even when you are raging.

Unless he has a - attack/+ damage tradeoff, which he does.

Still the weapon's Strike power will add several more points of damage, so 30's probably a good limit.

PnP Fan
2008-07-30, 12:34 PM
Fair enough, I skimmed the specific build, and was just offering general advice on how to achieve "strong, but really strong while raging"

Project_Mayhem
2008-07-30, 02:01 PM
Coincidentaly. I'm also now experimenting with my first character. I'm basing him on the Martial Artist archetype, but with the Chi power from Ultimate Power. Any Pointers for good/bad feats?

geez3r
2008-07-30, 02:25 PM
1) I notice you put the mental stats like this, "INT: 6/10* (-2/+0) WIS: 8/10* (-1/+0) CHA: 12/14* (+1/+2)" I'm guessing it's a simple error (since he has lost his mental power due to rage/keeping-back-the-rage), but I'm just pointing it out in case there's been a great mix-up of some kind which will ruin the character.
2) I intended the character to be incredibly strong even when not raging, but extra strong when raging--can this be done effectively?
3) I don't guess there's a way to have unlimited rage ?
4) What's the "Rage Container" power? I can't find it in the book

1) The first number represents his non-rage mentality. You say his mental faculties are diminished when not raging because he has to use up so much of his abilities to contain his rage. When he does rage however, his mental scores increase to their new value, represented by their Enhanced X in the container.

2) This can be done quite easily, give the character several levels of Super-Strength available when ever. Then get "Enhanced Super-Strength" with the Flaw Limited: Only while raging. Note, that this only increases actual lifting and carrying ability. If you want him to have more stopping power (ie damage) when not raging, take a few levels out of rage, which will lower the bonuses and give him a higher strength score instead.

3) Each level of rage you buy after this one will increase the duration of the rage by 5 rounds, you will however be fatigued for a number of rounds equal to the number of rounds you raged once the rage ends. And really, 15 rounds should be more than enough for most every encounter.

4) Container is a power structure. A container is a collection of traits that "come on-line" all at once. They can also all be nullified or boosted at once as well. Alternate form is a type of container.



For the Martial Artist type, your true strength is your versatility and adaptability. Don't try to excel at one specific thing, but dabble in nearly everything. So I suggest taking All-Out Attack, Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack and Power Attack. This'll let you change your abilities around to suit your needs against any foe you attack. I also might suggest Teamwork because you may come across a foe with Impervious Toughness higher than you can hit, at that point, switch it up and team up with the team's tank giving them a helping hand. You might also want to snag Acrobatic Bluff to mess with your opponents. Assessment also tends to be a good idea, but not a must have. Elusive Target and Evasion are nice to have as well, but the latter is better than the former. Luck is also quite a nice addition. Move by Attack is useful for staying out of harm's way in some instances. I also usually take Takedown Attack with Martial Artists so Minions can go flying.

Conners
2008-07-30, 09:15 PM
Because of your power level limit, having a STR score above 30 at PL 10 is of no value, even when you are raging. What you could do is take Boost: Super Strength (limit: only while raging). What that will do is raise your lifting/throwing capacity, as well as your grapple checks, when you are raging.

Conversely, you could take levels of super strength as your base lifting ability, and take boost: Enhanced STR (limit: only when raging) as your damage buff.

Also, you should be aware that the Rage feat is a leveled feat. So you can take it more than once, IIRC. I don't remember if the bonuses stack, or if they give you more rages/day, or exactly what.

You may also want to add some Frightful Presence or something similar into the mix. It'll give you a nice edge against a lot of other bricks (who stereotypcially have low Will saves.) Gah... all these power statistics are hurting my head (it wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't so sick...).

Can you take two lots of strength enhancement, then? His normal strength is about 16 to 18, late twenties when he became a berserker, and thirties when he's raged--or something along those lines.

I think every time you take it, after you reach the maximum stat bonus, you just get five rounds of extra rage time (along with five rounds of extra fatigue time).

Ah, yes, I was planning on taking that one.
Battle-Spirits scream, shout and howl as they charge into battle, their rage almost unbearable to them. They come at their foes unrelenting, sometimes to angry that they literally rip their enemies to sheds upon reaching them. Wearing long horns on their helmets, they often gore people as a bull would--carrying the dying enemy with them without paying any heed or hindrance (you should see the effects it has on enemy morale :smalleek:).
So... yeah. He'd scare the pants off of the Rhino, and perhaps even the Hulk or Superman would take a step back as he charges while screaming.



Unless he has a - attack/+ damage tradeoff, which he does.

Still the weapon's Strike power will add several more points of damage, so 30's probably a good limit. So I should raise my Strength to 30 after all?



1) The first number represents his non-rage mentality. You say his mental faculties are diminished when not raging because he has to use up so much of his abilities to contain his rage. When he does rage however, his mental scores increase to their new value, represented by their Enhanced X in the container.

2) This can be done quite easily, give the character several levels of Super-Strength available when ever. Then get "Enhanced Super-Strength" with the Flaw Limited: Only while raging. Note, that this only increases actual lifting and carrying ability. If you want him to have more stopping power (ie damage) when not raging, take a few levels out of rage, which will lower the bonuses and give him a higher strength score instead.

3) Each level of rage you buy after this one will increase the duration of the rage by 5 rounds, you will however be fatigued for a number of rounds equal to the number of rounds you raged once the rage ends. And really, 15 rounds should be more than enough for most every encounter.

4) Container is a power structure. A container is a collection of traits that "come on-line" all at once. They can also all be nullified or boosted at once as well. Alternate form is a type of container. 1) Now that I think about it, it does make some sense. However, he's blinded with intense rage, I never really intended for him to be able to think clearly enough to process anything mental while in his state of anger. It could still work out the way you've rigged it, for his mind might be functioning perfectly were he to just stop being so angry and think. Still... I'm unsure.

2) Getting the "Enhanced Super Strength" sounds good enough (on that note, what does "Enhanced" Super Strength mean...?), considering I want his rage to last as long as possible. Pinnacle said raising my STR to 30 would seem reasonable, shouldn't I do this?

3) So encounters will rarely last more than 15 rounds? How often can I rage, for that matter (it doesn't say in the feat description)?

4) Ah, I see. So it's to say, "Nullify this, and everything else goes with it!" type of thing (Without the anger, his mind will return to normal and he'll lose his great strength--as well as the use of the rage feat).